# Access control


Cube has a data access control layer built into the data model. Access control in Cube involves _authentication_ and _authorization_.


**Cube** cloud platform provides built-in authentication abstractions alongside [user attributes][ref-user-attributes] and groups for managing data access. **Cube Core** users can control the [security context][ref-sec-ctx] directly to implement authentication.


Authorization is based on [data access policies][ref-dap] and dynamic controls for advanced use cases.


[ref-user-attributes]: /product/administration/users-and-permissions/user-attributes
[ref-sec-ctx]: /product/auth/context
[ref-dap]: /product/auth/data-access-policies